Ne Plus Ultra – Ultra Naté Sets Vegas Free (Part 1) |
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| (07/02/2010) | ||||||
Ultra Naté’s hit single “Free” defined an entire era of House music. Produced by Mood II Swing for the Strictly Rhythm label, its reach was global. “Free” not only went to the top of the US club charts in 1997, but went gold in the UK, and broke the top 10 in countries including Canada, France, and Switzerland. It has continued to be a mainstay on the radio, for more than a decade, in such often disparate formats as pop, r&b, funk and soul, dance, and alternative. Is it any wonder, then, that Las Vegas’ premier LGBTQ promoter, Eduardo Cordova, decided to celebrate a holiday rejoicing freedom, equality, and independence by bringing the divine dance-music dynamo who gave the world “Free” to his weekly “Closet Sundays” party in Las Vegas, for the Fourth of July? Following is Part 1 of my interview with the multiple-hat-wearing woman herself, Ultra Naté, who can be seen performing live, this Sunday night (July 4th) at The Beatles REVOLUTION Lounge at The Mirage.
Shulman: Ultra? Ultra Naté: Hi Michael! What’s goin’ on? SS: Well… You’re coming to Las Vegas. UN: I know. I’m very excited about that. SS: Have you been before? UN: Yes, I’ve been many times, before, over the years. But I’m always just kind of in and out, for like five minutes, and I never get to really hang-out. SS: Oh, that’s a shame, because there’s always so much to do… UN: I know. And I have to cram it all in, in about 15 minutes! SS: I read this great piece about you by Michael Paoletta, and he quotes you as saying that you utilized the last part of 2009 to prepare for an onslaught in 2010.” Were you prepared for 2010, and what was the onslaught?
UN: Well, the onslaught is still “in the process” ‘cause we’re only midway through 2010, you see. The first half began with Strictly Rhythm’s rerelease of official remixes of “Free” (my classic hit) [As if we didn’t know…] by Bob Sinclar; and then I did a song with Nicola Fasano called “No Wasted Hearts.” Nicola did the Pitbull hit “I Know You Want Me” and this was the first song he was doing as an original production for his label (Jolly Roger – Sound of Pirates). He called me up and said “I’m a big fan, and I would really love for you to collaborate with me, and I’ve got this great song idea. Would you be interested?” And I really liked the song. We recorded it, shot a video, and it’s doing really well in Europe, and it’s doing really well on the club charts. So, that’s been a really great stroke for me, internationally.
Then is “Give It 2 U” – a single on Quentin Harris’ album Sacrifice, which came-out on Strictly Rhythm, this past month. It’s a very deep, soulful piece that’s very epic-sounding. A lot of live instrumentation, in fact it’s got a lot of live violins and strings going-on, to give it a great breadth and take it beyond the Underground Dance-scene. So that’s the beginning of my 2010!
Also putting-out records by the artists signed to my label, Deep Sugar Music. I’m preparing to release a new Sybil record, a new Jada record, and a new Lisa Mack record; as well as preparing remixes of their product, right now. I’m releasing an EP from a young kid out of DC, named Chris Burns, in the fall. My Deep Sugar party [every second Saturday at Paradox] is going strong; about to hit its seventh anniversary. We’re going into the fourth year as a resident DJ [on Radio FG] and my radio mix show that is heard all over France and all French-speaking territories. So, I’ve got a lot of stuff going on for 2010.
I have a single coming-out on David Morales’ new album which will be dropping in the fall. Also, my own official single, on my Deep Sugar label, called “Turn It Up” with remixes by Paul Oakenfold; and a new album called Hero Worship. SS: Girl! Your cup runneth over! UN: Okay? So, when I said “…an onslaught in 2010,” I wasn’t exaggerating!
TO BE CONTINUED…
Get into it! |
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